Department of History and Classics College of Arts and Humanities Research Specialisms and Supervisory Interests 1
The Department of History and Classics research expertise extends from the ancient cultures and languages of Greece, Rome and Egypt to the history of late twentieth-century Europe. Our staff are not only leading scholars in their field but also committed to teaching and public engagement. We work with museums, heritage bodies and the media to promote the public knowledge of history and classics. Our staff have published a wide range of books and articles and the last Research Assessment Exercise placed Swansea as the highest-rated research unit for history in Wales. We are part of the Research Institute for the Arts and Humanities (RIAH) and also a number of research groups which act as focal points for staff and postgraduates. These are: The Callaghan Centre for the Study of Conflict, Power and Empire; The Richard Burton Centre for the Study of Wales; The Centre for Ancient Narrative Literature (KYKNOS); The Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Research (MEMO); The Centre for the Comparative Study of the Americas; The Centre for Research into Gender in Culture and Society (GENCAS) and Research Group for Health, History and Culture (RGHHC). The research of our staff and postgraduates is integral to the life of the department and it means that Swansea is a vibrant, exciting and stimulating place to study. We offer three distinct research degrees, each of which requires you to conduct original research on a specific topic: A PhD (100,000 word thesis; three years full-time - five years part-time) An MPhil (60,000 word thesis; two years full-time - four years part-time) An MA by Research (30,000 word thesis; one year full-time - two years part-time) Entry Requirements PhD entry requirements are an upper second degree plus a Master s degree in a relevant subject. M.Phil and Master s by Research applicants must have a minimum of 2.1 at undergraduate level or relevant Professional qualifications. International applicants should have a minimum IELTS of 6.5 or equivalent. Students may enrol in September, January, April or July. How to Apply Applications can be made to either the University s Admissions Office or look at the website - www. swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate, where you will find the on-line application form and details of current fees. Contact Potential applicants are most welcome to contact the Arts and Humanities Graduate Centre admissions team for more details and advice on designing a research proposal, email: COAHGradCentrePGRAdmissions@swansea.ac.uk. For further information on staff research specialisms, please contact: Dr. Martina Minas-Nerpel, email: m.minas-nerpel@swansea.ac.uk Visit our staff pages for full information on staff research expertise and supervisory interests: www.swansea.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/aboutus/ 2
Dr Tom Allbeson Specialist Subjects: Contemporary history, Western Europe (post-1945), postwar reconstruction, urban history, collective memory, photographic history, cultural history of WWII Dr Joanne Berry Specialist Subjects: Roman culture and society, Roman archaeology, Pompeii and the cities of Vesuvius, Ancient cities, Ancient houses. Dr Erica Bexley Specialist Subjects: Neronian literature; Roman Comedy; Senecan Tragedy; Latin Epic; Performance Studies Professor Huw Bowen Specialist Subjects: The economic, imperial, and maritime history of Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with particular research interests in the history of the East India Company and British interactions with Asia. Dr Evelien Bracke Specialist Subjects: Greek and Roman myth and language, literacy in modern Wales, Latin teaching methods in the 21st century Dr Michael Bresalier Specialist Subjects: Modern Medical History, Global History of Disease, International and Global Health, History of Food (esp., 20th century livestock production) Dr Gillian Clarke Specialist Subjects: Prisoner-of-war history and the social, political and cultural history of Britain during the Second World War. Dr Rebecca Clifford Specialist Subjects: Post-1945 French and Italian history, oral history, memory studies, gender studies. Dr Jonathan Dunnage Specialist Subjects: Study of modern Italy. Dr Catherine Fletcher Early Modern Europe (especially Italy and Britain), Diplomacy, Material Culture; representations of Tudor and Renaissance history in literature, on TV and film, at heritage sites and online. Dr Ken Griffin Specialist Subjects: Late Period Theban tombs, Karnak, the Amarna Period, the Book of the Dead, Egyptian temples. 3
Dr Stefan Halikowski Smith Specialist Subjects: History of Portugal, Portuguese Empire, Spice Trade, Economic History, Maritime and Imperial History, Early Modern History. Dr Richard Hall Specialist Subjects: Early American History, British Atlantic World, Revolutionary America, French and Indian War, Seven Years War Dr Fritz-Gregor Herrmann Specialist Subjects: The Language, Thought and Philosophy of Archaic and Classical Greece; History of Ideas. Professor Mark Humphries Specialist Subjects: Late Antiquity (especially political and religious history); Early Christianity in the Roman World; Roman Cities (especially Late Antique Rome and Aquileia); Political and Cultural Interactions between Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity; Modern Historiography of Classical Antiquity and Early Christianity. Dr Heather Hunter-Crawley Specialist Subjects: Roman religion ( paganism, especially in the household), Christianity in Late Antiquity (especially pilgrimage and liturgical art), Roman and Late Antique visual and material culture, the senses and Sensory Archaeology. Dr Tomas Irish Specialist subjects: The First World War (France, Britain, Ireland, United States), internationalism, history of education, intellectual history. Dr Leighton James Specialist Subjects: Modern History, European History, Napoleonic Wars, Military History, Central Europe, Labour History. Dr Martin Johnes Specialist Subjects: Modern Wales, Leisure and Sports History (especially Boxing, Football and Rugby), Local Government, Contemporary History, post-1945 Britain. Dr Alex Langlands Specialist Subjects: Medieval history, Medieval archaeology, Landscape history, Landscape archaeology Broadcast media Dr Christoph Laucht Specialist Subjects: Modern Britain, Germany and the United States; the Cold War; the Nuclear Age; the History of Science, Technology and Medicine; Film, TV and History; Transnational History; Historical Peace Research Dr John Law Specialist Subjects: Late-medieval and Renaissance Italy, Venice, History of art, Medieval Studies. 4
Dr Gethin Matthews Specialist subjects: modern Wales; Wales and the First World War; Welsh communities overseas; Wales and the British Empire; history on television Dr Chris Millington Specialist subjects: Modern France (especially 1870-1945), First World War, Twentieth-Century Europe, Political Violence and Fascism Dr Martina Minas-Nerpel Specialist Subjects: Egyptology: Egyptian languages, especially Graeco-Roman hieroglyphic temple texts and Demotic; political and religious history of Egypt, particularly of the Ptolemaic and the Roman periods. Dr Louise Miskell Specialist Subjects: Urban and industrial history in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. Dr Adam Mosley Specialist Subjects: History of Science, Astronomy, Cosmology, Cosmography, History of the Book, Epistolography and Correspondence Networks, Scientific Instruments, History of Intellectual Property, History of Collecting, Museology, Early Modern History. Dr Regina Poertner Specialist Subjects: Reformation, Counter-Reformation, Central Europe, Scotland, Political Thought, Enlightenment, Romanticism, Early Modern History, Maritime and Imperial History. Dr Nigel Pollard Specialist Subjects: Roman archaeology and history: Roman imperial history; urbanism, rural archaeology and economy of the Roman Roman empire, especially Italy, Africa and the east; the archaeology and history of the city of Rome; Hellenistic, Parthian, Roman and Byzantine Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt; ceramics; the Roman army and warfare in antiquity; cultural heritage protection in conflict zones and natural disasters, both historical and contemporary. Professor Daniel Power Specialist Subjects: Medieval Europe, especially France and England between the 11th and 13th centuries (including the Norman, Plantagenet and Capetian monarchies and territories); the Albigensian Crusade; frontier societies in history. Dr Maria Pretzler Specialist Subjects: Greek history; Second Sophistic; Pausanias. Dr Ian Repath Specialist Subjects: Ancient prose fiction, especially the Greek and Roman novels; names, allusions, and intertextuality in Greek and Latin literature; literary aspects of Plato. 5
Dr Tracey Rihll Specialist Subjects: History of science, history of technology, science and technology studies, ancient history, military history, slavery, invention and innovation, technical education in antiquity. Dr Charlie Rozier (September 2016) Dr Troy Leiland Sagrillo Specialist Subjects: Ancient Egyptian history with an emphasis on the Third Intermediate and Late Periods; ancient Egyptian foreign relations with north Africa and the Levant; Afro-Asiatic comparative linguistics; archaeological illustration and epigraphy. Professor John Spurr Specialist Subjects: British History, Seventeenth-Century England, Religious History, Early Modern History. Dr Matthew Stevens Specialist Subjects: later medieval social, economic and legal history; i.e. the urban history of Wales; immigration and ethnic integration (especially English/Welsh-Irish and German/Slavic); women s history; and the evolution of Common Law. Dr Kasia Szpakowska Specialist Subjects: Egyptology (Middle Kingdom-New Kingdom-early Third Intermediate Period), private ritual, religion, magic, demonology; archaeology of religion, clay cobra figurines and snake cults; Late Bronze Age religious interactions with the Near East and Mediterranean; gender, childhood, health, medicine, technology, and daily life; dreams and nightmares. Professor Noel Thompson Specialist Subjects: Political Economy, The Labour Party, Modern History. Dr David Turner Specialist Subjects: History of Disability seventeenth to nineteenth centuries; history of medicine and the body; social and cultural history; gender; marriage and private life; sexuality; emotions; crime; early modern history (especially eighteenth-century Britain) Professor Kevin Williams Specialist Subjects: Media history; health and communication; European media; and the mass media and national identity in small nations. Dr Deborah Youngs Specialist Subjects: Later Medieval Britain, England s Aristocracy, Literacy and Book Ownership, Aging and the Life Cycle, Medieval Studies. 6
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